Report: America's True Debt Exceeds $200 Trillion, Threatens Future Generations

Campaign Announces Nationwide Tour Featuring Fiscal Leaders to Raise Awareness

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Can Kicks Back (TCKB), a non-partisan and millennial-led campaign to defeat the national debt and reclaim the American Dream, today released a groundbreaking report (swindled.thecankicksback.org) that reveals a growing economic inequality between younger and older Americans. The campaign also announced a cross-country "Generational Equity Tour" (tour.thecankicksback.org) to educate young Americans on the dire consequences of our growing national debt, as Washington enters another budget battle. 

The report, Swindled: How the Millennial Generation Will Pay the Price of Washington's Paralysis, provides new analysis that underscores the urgency of reducing our long-term deficit for the sake of young Americans and future generations. The report's new figures include:

1. $200 trillion – the total tab being left to future generations, representing today's official debt plus future unfunded government obligations;
2. $327,500 – the sum of lifetime federal benefits, in excess of taxes paid, that will have been collected by a senior turning 65 this year;
3. 60% – the lifetime tax rate on all future Americans if they are forced to pay the bill being racked up by today's Americans;
   

"The trajectory of today's federal budget is as bankrupt financially as it is morally," said Ryan Schoenike, co-founder of TCKB. "If older Americans understood what they were doing and if younger Americans understood what was happening to them, neither would stand for it."

The report criticizes recent deficit reduction measures as not attacking the true drivers of long-term deficits and calls for a "Grand Generational Bargain" comprised of short-term increases in federal investments, long-term savings from entitlements and comprehensive tax reform.

In addition, the report will serve to educate and engage young people along a five-week "Generational Equity Tour" led by TCKB's mascot, AmeriCAN – the proverbial "can" that politicians keep kicking down the road. The tour will include over 25 events from San Francisco to Washington, DC, where organizers will deliver actual tin cans containing messages to lawmakers.

Keynote speakers along the tour include Stanley Druckenmiller, former Chairman of Duquesne Capital, and Geoffrey Canada, CEO of Harlem Children's Zone. Other participants include former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker (I) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL), the youngest member of Congress.

"Young Americans have to take part or get taken apart," said former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), a former co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and TCKB advisor. "I am so pleased to join the Generational Equity Tour because there could not be a more important time to engage young people on the issue of our growing national debt."

The Can Kicks Back is a non-partisan, millennial-driven campaign to defeat the national debt and reclaim the American Dream.  Launched in November 2012, TCKB has organized 100+ chapters in 38+ states and has championed the bipartisan INFORM Act. More information: www.TheCanKicksBack.org.

Contact: Bill Beaman
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 301-767-7807

SOURCE The Can Kicks Back